DUMPING OF DEMONS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 11047, 22 February 1933, Page 2

DUMPING OF DEMONS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —New Zealand is still apparently the dumping ground for foreign lemons. The embargo on Australian fruit was of no effect as far as lemons are concerned because the severe frosts in Australia last winter wrought such damage in the Australian groves that no fruit was available for export. On the other hand California has been sending regularly to Wellington arid the Southern markets while last week a shipment of Italian lemons was received in Christchurch. This is only repeating the experience of foraier years. Whenever lemons have reached a payable price invariably a few weeks later we have had heavy importations of foreign lemons, This means that the prices will gradually be forced down until Lt no longer pays the importers to bring in the foreign lemons. By this time prices for the home grown lemons are brought down so low as to be unpayable. • There is undoubtedly good grounds for an embargo on all imported lemons. The quantity of fruit from the new groves just entering into bearing in New Zealand plus the normal increase from those already in production is such that, together with the declining purchasing power of the public, the point of ‘saturation” has been reached. New Zealand has been for years the happy hunting ground for Australia, California and Italy either to dump their surplus production or to rush into the market whenever prices have become payable. It is high time that this was stopped. Conditions preclude our shipping to Italy* California imposes a total embargo, and the Australian Government is ready to re-impose the embargo as soon as circumstances warrant i.e. probably this forthcoming season. In all three cases there is little or no reciprocity. We take the products of these three countries and they take little or nothing from us.—l am, etc., CITRUS GROWER « Feb. 20, 1933.